Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Here it is already; the week before school. Where did summer go? We started our Adventure Week yesterday with a true adventure. Logan is staying with Grandma Bishop this week and Gary is in Salt Lake at training so it was just Tom, Ethan, Dylan and me for our first day. I thought it would be fun to wander over to Delta and go bowling. We hopped in the car and made the obligatory Maverik run. Maverik has become one of my top reasons I love living here. Can you say fountain Coke? Oh how I've missed you.
Since I remembered we needed to start Adventure Week a bit late and we needed to get home in time for Tom's football practice, I decided to do the gas station lunch - hot dogs, chips, Slurpees for the kids. They were in heaven. We were a side show trying to get it all to the register after loading up our dogs, picking our chips, and balancing the Slurpee but we made it.

Once in the car and headed through Fillmore, I realized I had never actually driven to Delta. We took a Sunday drive a month ago but Gary took some back roads and I knew I would never be able to find it that way. I called my trusty husband who gave me some great directions. Just get on the freeway and get off in Holden and.......I trail off because the rest isn't really relevant anymore.

Driving through Fillmore to get to the freeway, I spot a sign. Flowell and Delta this way. Well, that may not be Holden but it surely will get me to Delta. The sign says so. Boy will Gary be proud of me that I found it all on my own. I turn off the main road and, smiling pleased with myself, head toward the tiny town of Flowell.

I'm sure there was a sign saying "TURN HERE FOR DELTA AIRONN!" but I missed it. I must have been distracted looking at the farm land or the homes or the big church or the animals or who knows what. I realized things weren't right when the road came to a T-intersection and there was no directions to Delta at all. North or south? That was the only question.

Since Holden was north, Delta must also be north so north I turned. Again, I was quite proud of myself. Finding it all on my own like this. The GPS was broken. I couldn't call Gary again and tell him I didn't listen to him or know where I was going. Turning around would just take more of our precious time and it was ticking away. I headed north.

That is until the road came to yet another T. This time, like last, there was no indication that Delta was even in the same county. No directions to the bowling alley. The only thing that lay before me was a BLM sign pointing to Devil's Kitchen and Clear Lake. The lake was only about 15 miles away and the road was paved and nice and, who knows, Devil's Kitchen may be okay too. The adventure just changed. Now the boys and I were on a real adventure where nobody in the car knew where we were going or what would happen.

About half a mile up the road, the pavement ended. We carried on for quite some time until we saw a sign for Devil's Kitchen two miles up an off shoot to the road we were on. Off we went. I wasn't sure we'd ever be able to find our way back to the main road with all the forks in the road we were on but we kept going. Finally we found what I think must be Devil's Kitchen. A fenced off area that had an opening for hikers bur no cars and huge black boulders. Tom had been itching to climb on some and E and Dyl were game so we parked the car and began hiking and climbing. It was a blast!

It may not be the easiest to see but the boys are at the top of the rocks. Tom was so great to make sure Dylan was safe the whole time. I couldn't have done it without my young man!

Right after we took this shot, we found all this rock art next to them. It was cool to see what was all over the rocks. I'm excited to learn the history behind it.

Dylan was bit nervous being on top of these huge rocks but he just kept going. His little legs couldn't make some of the bigger steps but Tom was right there ready to grab him as I lowered him down and, since he adores and trusts his big brother completely, Dylan was ready to jump to Tom whenever he needed to.

Ethan was quite the trooper. He is addicted to flip flops this summer and I forgot to check his footwear before we left so he did all the hiking and climbing in his favorite pair. His easy going spirit really helped him scale those boulders. I'm still not sure how he kept his flip flops on!

I really started to realize how much Tom is turning into a young man. He has his first scout camp out this week and I have been nervous about him going without Gary but watching him climb and help his brothers and me out on this adventure showed me just how ready he is. I am so proud of the man he is becoming and I hope he always keeps that compassionate spirit about him. He loved climbing around and would have stayed all day but didn't complain at all when it was time to go.

From there we headed home after a quick phone call to Gary's office to find out where we were and if we should continue on the road or turn around. We made sure to stop in at both the BLM and Forest Service for maps of the area. Next time we want to enjoy our adventure AND know where we are. What a great start to our Adventure Week though!

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About Me

I am the stay at home mom to four boys ages 11, 9, 6, and 4. I spend the days watching the boys discover the joys of being kids in small town USA. Riding bikes, playing in the sprinkler, sliding down the tallest slide in the park, playing football, baseball, wrestling, and soccer and generally just being boys.